the CONTROLS-CON 2019 registration!

We begin our interview with Scott Cochrane, President and CEO of Cochrane Supply and Engineering, with the question, “Where’s the APP?” The answer to that question is becoming the measurement of success and the driver to both the user’s experience and their bottom line. Scott’s underpinning principle is to “bring technology into the building space.”

Scott continues, “We’re not dealing with the maintenance staff anymore. The conversation now is with the C-Suite who has an entirely different mentality and set of expectations. And, it’s not just about saving energy anymore. It’s about creating business efficiencies. Distributors must have IT competence. The same goes for Vendors.”

Make sure to read Scott’s article “The OT versus IT Debate — A Temporary Construction Network helps Stanford University stay ahead of the curve” in the March edition of Automated Buildings

Scott extended a special offer to the ControlTrends Community: Use the code ControlTrends when registering for CONTROLS-CON 2019, this May 2nd and 3rd at Detroit’s MotorCity Casino Hotel

NFMT offers you the opportunity to learn from FM experts, discover state-of the-art technologies, network with fellow facilities pros and earn CEUs. All for FREE.

100 Free Educational Sessions

Educational sessions designed to keep you up-to-date on the latest codes, best practices, and industry trends. You’ll get valuable information that can help you reduce overhead, manage risk and identify cost savings.

The Largest FM Expo Hall

400+ exhibitors from a variety of product categories including building automation, energy products, maintenance products, lighting, HVAC and more! NFMT’s Expo Hall is open all 3 days.

Tuesday, March 26: 12 noon to 4 PM

Wednesday, March 27: 11:30 AM to 3:30 PM

Thursday, March 28: 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM

Party, Party, Party

Kick off NFMT in style with our Free Networking Party. Connect with colleagues and exhibitors over appetizers and drinks. Plus play special March Madness games!

Tuesday, March 26 at 4 PM

Earn CEUs at NFMT

You earn CEUs for every session you participate in at NFMT. Just make sure you’re scanned before each educational session.

Here's What You Need to Know!

REGISTRATION & HOTEL

Early Bird prices are ending in less than a week so register now. Once you register, please make sure to book your hotel room directly through the Haystack Connect website for the discounted conference rate

SPONSORS & EXHIBIT HALL

Sponsorships are going quickly and the exhibit hall is filling up. Build name recognition, reach new customers, sell your products and services, and connect with the Haystack Community. If you haven’t secured your company’s spot, don’t delay!

AGENDA & SPEAKERS

The first round of agenda selections has been announced on the Haystack Connect website. The Call for Speakers is open for round two of submissions, but only a few spots remain. Submit your ideas for consideration by March 31.

View the agenda, register, sign up to sponsor/exhibit, submit your session ideas, book your hotel room, and more at:

Haystack Connect provides a unique, open-forum for professionals involved in automation, control and the Internet of Things to learn and share the latest technologies and techniques for connecting systems and utilizing device data in applications including intelligent buildings, energy management, remote monitoring, and other IoT devices and applications. This year’s conference will take place May 13-15, 2019 at Paradise Point Resort and Spa in San Diego, California.

On this podcast, I talk HVAC software and controls with the great young minds ( young guns) in the HVAC Industry.

Ok, I know what you industry veterans are probably thinking, why should I listen to a bunch of youngsters? What could they possibly teach me? Maybe nothing… but face it, like it or not , we are here to stay, and you are lucky we have chosen the HVAC profession.

If you are paying attention you know that finding good, young talent is hard. Between the labor shortage and the millennials who think HVAC is a four letter word and Tim Ferriss’s book The Four Hour Work Week is an unalienable right not a concept, it is a wonder we have so many hard working, young professionals at all. So listen up, take notes and learn how YOUNG GUNS ROLL.[Read more…]

TheProject Haystack Organization (www.project-haystack.org), a collaborative community addressing the challenge of utilizing semantic modeling and tagging to streamline the interchange of data among different systems, devices, equipment and software applications, today announced the launch of its new marketing website marketing.project-haystack.org. The new site, which went live on March 1st, features a modern and sophisticated design to promote the vast marketing activities driven by the growing Haystack community and focused on promoting the value of smart data and semantic tagging.

To date, the website of the Project Haystack Organization has been solely for the developer community, featuring updates on semantic tagging, forum discussions and activities of the Working Groups.

“Given the growing amount of marketing activities our community has been initiating in the past few years, such as our up-coming 4th biennial Haystack Connect Conference, our 5th bi-annual issue of Connections Magazine, numerous webinars, exhibits and guest speaking opportunities at industry events, it was easily decided that we needed to provide end-user’s and new developers one place where they could learn more and find out how they can get involved in our organization,” said John Petze, Executive Director of Project Haystack. “It was important that our developer site remain just that.”

While establishing the value of smart data for building systems is where Project Haystack gained its traction and adoption, the Haystack methodology is not just about HVAC, temperature sensors, fans, meters, and building systems. The IoT, BIoT and the IIoT are bringing diverse smart devices into homes, high-rise commercial buildings, industrial facilities, factories and agriculture. The goal of the new marketing website is to help these markets see the potential as smart devices proliferate into solutions no one could have ever imagined even a few years ago, to learn who the suppliers and end-users are from around the world, and why implementing a data management strategy that includes tagging, has become so critical.

“This new website demonstrates the growing acceptance of the value of the Haystack methodology,” added Marc Petock, Executive Secretary of the Project Haystack Organization. “We had a record number of contributed articles featured in our latest Connections Magazine Winter 2019 issue. Now we have expanded the opportunity for the community to contribute articles, videos, promote webinars and events all related to Project Haystack and the value gained from this new abundance of semantic data.”

Source: Engineered Systems, February 8th Magazine

In last month’s article, we discussed the topic of technology — when to use it and when not to. When we start to utilize technology on our projects, we tend to run into the concept of openness.

During my time working in this industry, the word openness has been discussed in depth. Yet, it seems, still to this day, that there is no consensus around openness. Depending on the audience, openness could mean one of three things: open protocols, open procurement, or open systems. As a specifying engineer, each of these forms of openness have different ramifications on the design of your projects.

This will be part one of a two-part article where we discuss the three different kinds of openness and the specific specification language for achieving openness on projects.

Topic No. 1, open protocols

When folks want systems to communicate, they enter the design process with a sense of blind trust that the manufacturers will get it right. They assume that all systems will work together, and by the time the project’s finished, everything will talk with one another.

The reality is, this almost never seems to be the case. Some piece of hardware, protocol gateway, license, or form of technology is missed. And when this happens, the finger-pointing starts, and everyone gets irritated with one another. When approaching openness, you need to consider that open communication between two systems depends on those systems being able to communicate with one another. On the surface, that seems like a really obvious statement; however, the reality is a lot of folks don’t realize the ramifications of open protocols.

Protocols, quite simply, are a way of formatting communication. A sentence such as, “The dog bit Johnny,” follows a specific structure. An object — in this case a dog — performs an action. It bites, and it performs that action against someone, Johnny. Now, if we fail to follow the normal grammatical structure of a sentence, and we said, “Johnny bit the dog,” the sentence takes on a completely different meaning even though we’re using the same words in the sentence.

So, how do we resolve this?

Today’s technology systems communicate with one another; yet, in many cases, they’re doing so by utilizing different communication formats. This is where protocols come in handy. The problem with protocols is that some are not deemed open protocols. Now, this is becoming less and less of an issue as our industry continues to evolve, but in the early 21st century, right around 2000-2002, the forms of communication that would enable interoperability between systems and their availability was very limited.

Nowadays, we have LON, Modbus, and BACnet, each of which have their strengths and weaknesses. As a specifying engineer, it’s important for you to understand the capabilities of these protocols and what they enable you to do from an integration perspective. I’m not saying engineers need to be experts on these protocols; however, they do need to realize that BACnet/IP is not going to seamlessly integrate with LON/IP or Modbus/IP. Those three protocols will not seamlessly talk to one another. This point seems to be missed on many project designs and specifications.

We address this in our online course, BAS Protocol Fundamentals, and, unfortunately, not a lot of folks are talking about this. Despite this, protocols are still an incredibly important topic for specifying engineers who want to ensure that their systems are interoperable.

Next comes open procurement. As I mentioned, the word openness means different things to different folks. From a technologist perspective, I’m thinking about open protocols or open systems, but from a procurement perspective, my mind focuses on open procurement models. You see, one of the exciting things that is happening in our industry right now is the availability of control products lines that are independent of OEM requirements. What do I mean by that? In the past, there were some robust OEM product lines for control systems. The problem was that no one could actually procure these systems unless they were the OEMs.

Nowadays, we have systems that can be procured directly through distribution and supply channels that are open to pretty much anyone. Because of this, these products, when selected for a project, can provide multiple service options. This reduces both installed costs as well as life cycle costs. They give the owner a greater level of independence from a specific manufacturer. A lot of owners find this very attractive in that it enables them to avoid the dreaded 40-50 percent margin for post-installation service calls because there is more competition, and this has the effect of driving down the cost of service. We address this in our article, “How to Evaluate a Building Automation System.”

It’s important to remember to define what openness means to your end customers. In next month’s article, we will be discussing open systems and how to specify openness in your projects.

Join us for our upcoming webinar on OCCUPANT EXPERIENCE. In this educational session, Oxford Properties and ExxonMobil discuss platform options, present best practices, and share insights into their occupant experience strategies.

Don’t miss the opportunity to learn about the various occupant experience options from some of the industries’ most progressive professionals.
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Our March webinar will focus on CYBERSECURITY for Commercial and Corporate Real Estate. In this session, we will bring together a host of real estate cyber professionals to discuss the threat landscape, cyber solution options, developing a comprehensive cyber strategy and the Real Estate Cyber Consortium.

PENN Controls celebrated 100 years the night after the ControlTrends Awards and we were there! The Big Bash took place at the Georgia Aquarium and PENN and Johnson Controls spared no expense in making sure their customers had a big time!

PENN Controls has been making commercial refrigeration controls that have been keeping people and products cool in supermarkets, convenience stores, hotels, and restaurants worldwide. It has been the go-to refrigeration solution for distributors like DMS Controls and Stromquist & Company as well as HVAC service contractors across the globe. PENN has a long history of delivering the freshest ideas in the HVACR industry.

If you like the System 350 as much as we do, be sure to check out the videos because we have a special guest stop by, who was on the original design team for the legendary System 350. The System 350 was one of the first modular control systems and is still being used today. Always moving forward JCI has upgraded the System 350 to the System 450.

Speaking of new fresh ideas watch our video interviews with the Penn and Johnson Controls leadership team to learn what is next. Here are some of the folks we talk to on this two-part video:

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA (February 12, 2019) — The Project Haystack Organization, a collaborative community addressing the challenge of utilizing semantic modeling and tagging to streamline the interchange of data among different systems, devices, equipment and software applications, today announced that DLR Group was presented the Project Haystack Award for their support of the Project Haystack open-source project and adoption of the methodology as an end user. The award was presented in front of a packed house at the 2018 ControlTrends Awards ceremony held January 13th in Atlanta during AHR Expo 2019.

DLR Group is an integrated design firm with 30 offices around the globe and over 1,200 professionals delivering architecture, engineering, interiors, planning, and building optimization for new construction, renovation, and adaptive reuse projects. One of the world’s leading sustainable design firms, DLR Group’s promise is to elevate the human experience through design. This promise inspires sustainable design for a diverse group of public and private sector clients, local communities, and our planet. DLR Group is 100 percent employee-owned and was an early adopter of the Architecture 2030 Challenge, an initial signatory to the AIA 2030 Commitment and the China Accord.

“In the past year we have seen a significant increase in world-wide adoption of the Project Haystack methodology in the building industry, and expanding into smart devices for homes, industrial facilities, factories and agriculture,” said John Petze, Executive Director of the Project Haystack Organization. “We’re pleased to recognize DLR Group’s use of the Haystack methodology of semantic modeling and tagging, implemented through their Building Optimization and High-Performance Design practices.”

DLR Group is utilizing the Project Haystack methodology through smart building design strategies, monitoring-based commissioning, and smart energy management.

DLR Group Principal, Ruairi Barnwell, was present to accept the Project Haystack Award. “With the vast quantities of building operational data available, the use of a semantic, or tag-based, data analytics framework has become an essential tool to leverage insights that help us optimize the ongoing operations of our clients’ buildings,” said Barnwell. “We have embedded the Project Haystack methodology in the core of the building performance data analytics platform that we use to collect, analyze and visualize building performance data. This allows us to create actionable intelligence to optimize energy and indoor environmental quality, lowering energy use and elevating the human experience of the built environment.”

Since its formation in March of 2011, the Project Haystack Organization, a 501(c) non-profit trade association, has been providing the industry with an open-source, collaborative environment to address the challenge of making data self-describing using semantic modeling, also known as data tagging. The work developed by the Project Haystack member companies and community streamlines the process of managing, presenting and analyzing the vast amount of data produced by smart devices and equipment systems. The Haystack methodology can be used with virtually any type of system and device data and is not tied to any vendor or communication protocol. More information about Project Haystack is available at: www.project-haystack.org.

The Project Haystack Organization, a collaborative community addressing the challenge of utilizing semantic modeling and tagging to streamline the interchange of data among different systems, devices, equipment and software applications, today announced the publication of their fifth issue of Haystack Connections Magazine with 62 pages of interviews, articles and tools, from companies around the world including Bedrock Detroit, Nube iO, BTIB, Lynxspring, BuildingFit and Tridium, [Read more…]